Monday, January 5, 2015

My fantasy beginning (Dungeon Quest)

As a child, I loved fairytales by the Grimm Brothers and H.C Andersen. Good versus evil is an reoccuring theme in the tales where the good always defeats the evil. There were always hope in the tales and nothing was impossible, the poor beggar boy could win the heart of the princess and beyond the dark shadows there would always be light. I loved the environments and the characters in the tales, and around every corner in the world there would be a legend, a long forgotten treasure, an ancient tomb, a mythical forest etc. When I got a bit older, I think I was around 8 years old, my older brother introduced me to Dungeon Quest boardgame (Drakborgen in Sweden) and I was amazed. The legend is that an old abandoned dark castle was many centuries ago the home of the lord of the land but since his empire fell and he died a long time ago, his castle has been left abandoned full of treasures somewhere inside. But legend also tells that evil creatures walk the corridors and rooms in the castle and no adventurer who has entered has ever come back out. As a player you will choose a character to enter the castle and the quest is to find treasure and go back out before nightfall because no one survives in the castle during night.
I remember when I first read the story and saw the picture of the big dark castle, I wanted to be one of those adventurers, I wanted to be in that world, it was so cool and magic. I played the game over and over and it is still one of the best fantasy board games I have ever played, actually alongside the game Talisman. I can honestly say that Dungeon Quest was the big start for me in fantasy, going from the more light fairytales into bigger and more complex fantasy adventures. Dungeon Quest is a big recommend from me, try it out if you haven´t :-)